People my age tend to be very jaded when it comes to the United Nations. Its hard to take an organization seriously when its joke of a Human Rights Council has such serial human rights abusers like Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China, Sudan, etc. The Security Council suffers from the veto wielded by Russia and China which blocks any international action on say, Syria, while many other institutions, such as UNWRA, are in dire need of substantial reform.

And yet, every time I despair about the UN I think back to that glorious day on November 29, 1947 when the UN voted in favor of a Jewish state. The vote was not a foregone conclusion, in fact many expected the Jews to lose. Nonetheless 33 states took the corageous choice in voting in favor of a Jewish state. The rest, as they say, is history. As one says in this video, the Jews changed from being objects in history to being in charge of their own historical destiny.

This video, from the Toldot Yisrael series, gives testimony to the hopes and dreams of world Jewry as they sat huddled around around the radio, waiting for the results of that fateful UN vote.